Viewing "The Progress" Unquarantined (1887).

In the spring of 1886, as Gus and Theo Beaulieu were preparing to publish "The Progress" -- what was to be the first newspaper printed on the White Earth Reservation -- the U. S. Indian Agent, claiming they were unfit for such an occupation, seized their press and banned their newspaper. The Beaulieu's brought suit in federal court to regain their press and for an order that they had a right to publish a newspaper. Judge Rensselaer Nelson ruled in their favor. In October 1887, the first issue of "The Progress" finally appeared; it had a colorful account of the brothers' battle to get out of "quarantine." That issue was reprinted in a history of Becker County, Minnesota, published in 1907.